burnt sienna

Photo Credit: ygnaz

The day after Halloween is always a sad one. Walking down the street in a hungover haze, with last night's eyeliner smeared under my eyes, face paint caked under my fingernails, and a mound of responsibilities to get back to, the world seems less bright. The pumpkins have lost their grins, beginning to sag, some broken and chipped, others on their sides now having served their purpose.

And those beautiful autumn leaves that the sun shone through yesterday, that are responsible for color names like "sienna" and "currant," are just "brown" today. They crunch without satisfaction, sending dust into the air, but mostly lay lifeless, no indication of once being green or having experienced golden years.

Today, stores will pull out their ornaments and lights, prop up plush turkeys, and begin advertising those Black Friday. Soon, instead of candy corn frappes, it's pumpkin spice lattes and peppermint mochas. For me, it's some Thanksgiving blend coffee that tastes no different than a seasonless cup. And it shouldn't taste different, because nothing has empirically changed. Except it has.

The sun sets at 4:30, cans of sweet potatoes laden in sugar line the produce section, and an impending winter can't be ignored anymore. Flip flops are thrown to the back of the closet, pea coats flung on the bed to be dry cleaned, and windows shut at night.

excuses ahoy

It's been well over a year and a half since I've written here. Granted, anyone with a basic grasp of counting months could have deduced this. Why?

Laziness.
Busy-ness.
Burned-outness.

That sums up about a year worth of why I haven't written

The last six months, I blame change-ness. New home, new city, new career, new friendships and relationships, and an end to old ones.

Change sucks. But it's ok. Because it's temporary, in theory. Things can't be influx forever -- that's what my shrink says anyway. There's a whole entry in here about co-pays, but I'll save that for another entry.

The thing is, change involves plopping barefoot over an unpaved road, tip-toeing around the particularly shop rocks marking the path, hopping from shaded-spot to shaded-spot in hopes of avoiding burns and blisters.

And no matter how uncomfortable it is, when you stop to look back you notice that
1) you don't turn into salt and
2) you can't imagine trekking back

In fact, you can't imagine how you stayed so long. Or why. Who stays loyally in a burning city because the thought of change just seems too uncomfortable? Apparently me.

But now - barefoot, uncomfortable, schlepping, prickled, and blistered - it doesn't matter. Because I got out, long before I was burned beyond healing.

As it stands, I'll liken staying to irresponsibly trying to remove a pan of brownies from the oven without mitts.

But that's ok too. Lucky for me, Neosporin is a plenty.

Odd Sense of De Ja Vu: Kyrgyzstan rioters seize security HQ; angry mob beats interior minister to death

AP Originally Published:Wednesday, April 7th 2010, 11:41 AM
Updated: Wednesday, April 7th 2010, 4:11 PM

Sekretarev/AP

An opposition protester aims a kick at a captured Kyrgyz police officer.

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan - Thousands of protesters furious over corruption and spiraling utility bills seized internal security headquarters, a state TV channel and other levers of power in Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday after government forces fatally shot dozens of demonstrators and wounded hundreds.

A revolution in the Central Asian nation was proclaimed by leaders of the opposition, who have called for the closure of a U.S. air base outside the capital that serves as a key transit point for supplies essential to the war in nearby Afghanistan.

The U.S. State Department said transport operations at the Manas base were "functioning normally."

This mountainous former Soviet republic erupted when protesters called onto the streets by opposition parties for a day of protest began storming government buildings in the capital, Bishkek, and clashed with police.

Groups of elite officers opened fire.

The Health Ministry said 40 people had died and more than 400 were wounded.

Opposition activist Toktoim Umetalieva said at least 100 people had died after police opened fire with live ammunition.

Crowds of demonstrators took control of the state TV building and looted it, then marched toward the Interior Ministry, according to Associated Press reporters on the scene, before changing direction and attacking a national security building nearby.

They were repelled by security forces loyal to President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, whose whereabouts were a mystery.

The opposition and its supporters appeared to gain the upper hand after nightfall, and an Associated Press reporter saw opposition leader Keneshbek Duishebayev sitting in the office of the chief of the National Security Agency, Kyrgyzstan's successor to the Soviet KGB.

Duishebayev issued orders on the phone to people Duishebayev said were security agents. He also gave orders to a uniformed special forces commando. Duishebayev told the AP that "we have created units to restore order" on the streets.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2010/04/07/2010-04-07_kyrgyzstan_interior_minister_reportedly_killed_by_angry_mob.html#ixzz0kWjzJ4S3